Story Highlights

Mary Cain began to take one extra lap around the Hayward Field track on the University of Oregon campus Thursday night, carrying a U.S. flag with fellow American competitor Stephanie Jenks on a victory lap and stopping along the stands for hugs, high-fives and autographs along the way.

Cain had just added another rather impressive accomplishment to her long list — world champion.

The 18-year-old pro from Bronxville claimed a gold medal by taking the 3,000 meters at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Eugene, finishing in a personal-best 8 minutes, 58.48 seconds.

"The crowd was going so wild and everybody was standing up whenever I would come down the backstretch," Cain said on the Universal Sports telecast. "I knew it wasn't just for me. It was for everybody here, because who didn't want to hear our national anthem playing tonight?"

This marked her second time competing in the world junior meet. Back in 2012, she finished sixth in the 1,500 in Barcelona.

This time, after staying with the closely bunched lead pack throughout, she was running fourth with one lap to go. But Cain, who was a member of Bronxville High's Class of 2014 and will be attending the University of Portland, wasn't that far off the lead. She appeared to be boxed in, but then found a crease and took off with about 120 meters to go.

From there, she outsprinted a pair of Kenyans, Lilian Kasait Rengeruk and Valentina Chepkwemoi Mateiko, who finished 2-3, both a little more than two seconds behind Cain.

"Experience isn't just from racing fast times," Cain said. "That's one thing I've learned over the years. A lot of it is just being able to compete. That was a much harder effort than 8:57 or 8:58. … It was a lot of mental challenge. I'm tired, too. It was pretty tough physically as well."